


The surrogate

by zation



Series: True Mates [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha Dean, Alpha Sam, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bottom Castiel, Cas is a champ okke, Dean is a little squeamish when it comes to his Omega in pain, Difficulty Conceiving, Established Relationship, F/M, Humor, Kissing, M/M, Omega Castiel, Omega Jess, Prompt Fic, Surrogacy, Time jumps ftw, Top Dean, child birth, considerably less sexy times than you'd expect from that rating and zation lmao, made-up medical bullshit, rating is for child birth more than sexy times, talk about pregnancies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-06-07 18:37:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19474990
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zation/pseuds/zation
Summary: Original prompt (summarized):Dean and Cas don't want pups, everyone in their circle of friends and family knows this. They don't have that parental-instinct. Sam and Jess however have the instinct and can't wait to be parents. But after 1 year of trying to get pregnant they still remain pupless. A test shows that only one ovary is fully developed and when they discover more problems, it’s in the end revealed that Jess' womb is too 'busted'. They're devastated but the doctor says there's one last option: A surrogate.Or,The one where Cas doesn’t hesitate to help out his family, and where Dean falls a little bit harder in love with his mate.





	The surrogate

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ZarauthForsaken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZarauthForsaken/gifts).



> For anyone new: this is a continuation of the first fic in this series but it also reads as a stand-alone fic. All you really need to know from the first one is that all the relationships are established and stable and have been so for a long time <3
> 
> Now, let’s have fun with Cas helping Sam and Jess, and Dean being a total wreck XD
> 
> As an aside,   
> Q: how would a _male_ Omega give birth “naturally” anyway?  
> A: who knows?! Skip!  
> 

Sam had always thought the waiting was the worst but as they sit in Dr. Mills’ office, listening to her telling them about every complication they face he thinks he has been dead wrong. The waiting is difficult, but the _answers_ are devastating.

Jess’ crushed Omega scent is palpable in the room and Sam does his best to remain calm for her, knowing full well that he can’t let his thrashing inner Alpha take over. Dr. Mills is no doubt smelling the both of them but she’s professional enough to not even let it show. Who knows, maybe she even has blockers on to numb her senses, that seems kind of prudent in this case.

“So what are you saying, exactly?” Sam cuts in when the good doctor pauses, Jess takes a shaky breath but remains silent. All he wants is to take his mate home and comfort her but to leave now would be both rude and stupid. Dr. Mills, though the bearer of bad news, is doing all she can to help them.

The doctor turns to him, her expression soothing but in no way wavering. “The artificial insemination that you have discussed with your fertilization specialist is no longer a viable option, Mr. Winchester,” her Beta scent is subdued and neutral but her eyes soften. “I am sad to say that it turns out that what we thought were harmless follicle cysts are in fact cancerous cystic masses developing on Jess’ ovaries. I recommend they immediately be removed.”

“Of course,” Sam’s not arguing that. If there is anything with the word _cancerous_ in it he doesn’t want it anywhere near his mate. “But—”

“She wants to remove my _ovaries_ , Sam,” Jess interrupts, her voice steadier than Sam had expected.

Dr. Mills folds her hands on her desk. “It is of course up to you, but I highly recommend a hysterectomy in this case.”

Jess’ composure breaks and she starts sobbing, hiding her face in her hands. Sam feels paralyzed, the news that his mate has something so dangerous growing inside her strikes down his inner Alpha almost as much as the news that this is the end of their pup-filled dreams.

Ever since he was small, Sam knew he wanted to be a father. Some people never really develop that parental instinct and to Sam that’s always been kind of weird because he feels it so keenly. Dean and Cas, Sam’s brother and his mate, are a prime example of a mated pair without an ounce of parental instincts. Oh, they are great with pups, as evidenced by how well they take care of their friends’ pups from time to time but Dean told Sam long ago that there was no way he and Cas were having any of their own. To Sam’s knowledge Dean has even had a vasectomy and his greatest concern in doing so had been “losing that awesome rut sex, am I right”, a concern that Dean has gone into too great a detail bragging that he actually never did loose.

In Sam’s mind, Dean and Cas’ decision is right for them and he is happy for them. It is also a decision he and Jess would be caught dead making but now, it seems, fate has seen it so anyway.

“Maybe…” Jess looks up, drawing a breath to collect herself. “Maybe we could do the artificial insemination anyway? Before you remove everything?”

Hope, unbidden at this point, blooms in Sam’s chest and he snaps his eyes up to look at the doctor but the hope is crushed immediately again at the sight of her set jaw.

“In theory, yes,” she starts in a tone that suggests she’s going to disagree. “But as your physician I wouldn’t want to risk it. These cysts inside you are growing rapidly and I fear waiting for your pregnancy to go full term could result in a deadly outcome. And barring that, I wouldn’t want to risk the health of the pups.”

“But…”

Dr. Mills hold up a hand to stop Jess’ shaky pleading. She gives a small smile to seem less harsh. “I do, however, have some options for you. I know you have had a hard couple of years, trying and failing to get pregnant and I have had a close collaboration with the fertility specialist you went to see. Despite the cancerous growths one of your ovaries is still working to produce eggs and so far they seem viable for insemination.”

Sam understands before she has finished explaining and he feels a rush of renewed hope. “Are you suggesting in vitro fertilization and surrogacy?”

Jess draws a breath, mind clearly following and liking this line of thought just as much as Sam does.

Dr. Mills smiles at him. “That or adoption, both safe option to not risk Jess’ life and to ensure you receive one or more pups.”

Sam feels light as air, maybe he can save his mate _and_ give her the pups she deserves after all?

“I think…” he stops himself and turns to Jess, taking one of her delicate hands in his and smiling at her. “I think we need to discuss this.”

“I think so too,” Dr. Mills agrees swiftly even though Jess is smiling back at him. “Adoption may take years and will probably leave you with only one pup, though it’s more of a guarantee that you get one. Surrogacy depends on you finding a good vessel and, of course, that the in vitro fertilization succeeds in the first place.”

“Can they really take eggs from me, then?” Jess says, her scent tentatively hopeful. “Even though I’m… busted?”

Dr. Mills looks kindly at her. “Your ovaries are not busted, Jess. Not to the point of not producing eggs. We can still harvest good eggs before we go through with the hysterectomy.”

Jess nods, squeezing Sam’s hand. “Yes, we… let’s do that. It might be that we decide on adoption in the end but there’s no harm in taking some eggs anyway, right?”

“Of course,” Dr. Mills nods and pulls out some forms she starts filling out. Sam can’t see what they are about but suspects it’s for their fertilization specialist to look at. “I will schedule it for you, I would like to go through with this as soon as possible, considering your health. But take your time to decide on someone to ask for help, if you decide on surrogacy.”

Later, as they are driving home, Jess turns to Sam with a serious expression.

“With adoption we could help an orphaned little pup,” she states and Sam recognizes her tone as the one she uses when she wants to brainstorm. Sam is in all honesty still a little shell-shocked because damn, his mate has _cancerous cystic masses_ growing inside her. She might die.

Or no, he needs to shake that off. Dr. Mills seems concerned with that happening only if they leave the cyst and ovaries be. As long as they remove everything Jess it going to be fine.

“With surrogacy the pups will look like us,” he counters and sees when he glances over at her that this discussion is over before it even began and to be honest he can’t blame her. Sure, helping out a small pup without parents would be very nice but to have a child who’s biologically linked to his beautiful mate makes an even warmer feeling spread in Sam’s stomach.

“One is not better than the other,” Jess says carefully and Sam nods because he completely agrees.

“But one is the better option for _us_ , at this stage in our life,” he grins encouragingly when he sees her smile tentatively.

“Who would we ask, though? Who would carry it for us?”

“Honestly?” Sam chuckles a little, slowing to stop at a red light and turning more to her, one hand seeking hers. “I think there’s only one person we can trust with something like this.”

* * *

When Sam and Jess has finished explaining what their latest doctor’s appointment had yielded Dean feels paralyzed and somehow, irrationally, like a bad Alpha.

“But…” his heart is hammering and he leans forward, feeling Cas pat him on his knee. “Are you going to die?”

Jess smiles almost indulgently at him but damn, Sam is looking a bit green around the gills so Dean suspects he isn’t the only one to have feared this.

“No,” she takes one of Sammy’s big bear paws in her small hands. “They have removed it, everything.”

“Everything?” Cas asks, both his tone and scent careful. Dean’s eyes dart between the other three people in the room.

“Yeah,” Jess looks down for a moment, fiddling with Sam’s fingers. “We thought it was best, Dr. Mills recommended it.”

“She was probably right,” Cas agrees somberly. Dean doesn’t really follow the unspoken conversation but feels placated that his mate seems to think whatever the doctors did to Jess was the best option. Sam’s calm Alpha scent is also a great indication that everything is alright with Jess now and that relaxes Dean even more. “But what are you going to do now then?”

“Going forward we only have two options,” Sam states, smiling briefly down at Jess when she looks up at him over her shoulder. They’re all sitting in Cas and Dean’s living room, Jess in the armchair and Sam perched on the armrest as Dean and Cas take up the couch for now. “Adoption or surrogacy.”

The gears in his head clicks and Dean can’t help but seek out Cas’ hand when he realizes that Jess had had to remove her whole uterus and everything. Talk about a low blow; Sam and Jess have wanted pups since forever.

 _“As long as she’s alive,”_ Dean thinks and listens as his little brother explains their options.

“So we have settled on surrogacy,” Jess ends with a huge smile. “Both are great options but we just…” she looks up at Sam again and he bends down to kiss her head. “We want this for us.”

“I think it’s great,” Cas says with conviction and Dean leans back on the couch, nodding as he throws an arm around his mate. Honestly Dean doesn’t care which option they choose, as long as they’re happy. Dean knows he’ll love whatever runt they bring into their lives, no matter where the pup originates from, simply because it’ll be Sam and Jess’ pup.

“I’m glad you think so,” Jess says, her tone lower and her scent turning nervous all of a sudden. She swallows but is apparently unable to continue because Sam squeezes her hands and smiles at Cas instead.

“We would like to ask you.”

“Me?” Cas asks with surprise and Dean frowns in confusion. Ask him what?

“Yeah,” Sam’s scent turns nervous too but he powers through. “Would you carry our pup for us?”

There’s a beat of silence and Dean doesn’t know what the fuck to say, even less so when he sees Cas smiling widely, his eyes suddenly shining with unshed tears.

“What an honor,” he mumbles and surprises the fuck out of Dean by standing up, arms wide to hug Sam who stands to meet him. “Of course. Of course I will do this for you.”

Jess makes a little squeak and hides her mouth, her eyes watery too, and Sam laughs out loud, the sound elated beyond normal relief. Cas hugs the big Alpha tightly, mumbling something that Dean doesn’t catch but that makes Sam breathe out harshly and bury his face against Cas’ neck.

Against the mating bite that _Dean_ put on _his_ mate.

“Hang the fuck on,” he snaps, getting to his feet too. Cas and Sam break apart with confusion etching their faces and Dean almost wants to rip his mate away from Sam but refrains. For now. “I get it that you want pups but there’s _no fucking way_ I’m letting you bang Cas, okay?”

The mood instantly changes and Dean gets it, gets that it’s his fault but fucking _hell_ how can Cas agree to having another Alpha’s hands on him? And agree so easily too! Without even fucking asking Dean about it.

“Dean,” Sam sighs, giving Dean the bitchiest of bitchfaces Dean’s ever seen but no, he’s not having it right now.

“No, for real Sammy. That’s too much to ask, I for—”

“What?” Cas’ tone is sharp as a whip and shuts Dean up like nothing else. “You forbid it? Sit the hell down, Alpha.”

Dean’s inner Alpha roars at him to fix this. He doesn’t know what he did wrong but clearly he has overstepped boundaries. But to his surprise Cas comes to sit beside him, taking Dean’s hands in his and pinning him down with his gaze.

“You listen to me right now, Alpha. I am your mate and I will never willingly lay with anyone else, that your mind even went there is an insult to me and our mating and you will goddamn reflect on that. But also,” his eyes soften and he starts chuckling, the change in his mood and scent so confusing that Dean doesn’t know what to do. “You’re so dumb I can’t even be mad.”

“Surrogacy is in vitro fertilization,” Jess supplies as if that’s going to clear anything up for Dean. “They will take my egg and fertilize it with Sam’s sperm and then put it in Cas’ womb.”

“Yeah,” Sam huffs, sitting down next to Jess again. “My knot isn’t going anywhere near Cas, don’t worry.”

“Oh,” okay that makes much more sense. Was kind of stupid of Dean to even think his brother would come here and ask to fuck Dean’s mate in the first place. But damn, Dean’s just so relieved that he can’t even be embarrassed. “That sounds like a good idea.”

“I _know_ ,” Sam mocks and Cas just chuckles again, his pleasant Omega scent wrapping around Dean and calming him down. “Would _that_ be okay with you, Alpha?”

Okay so maybe Dean’s a _little_ bit embarrassed. “Only if Cas wants to.”

Cas just grins, shaking his head fondly. “Anything for our family, you know that.”

“Are you sure about this?” Dean mumbles later that night when he and Cas have gone to bed, lying in each other’s arms, lulled by their mate’s scent. “It’s huge.”

“I am,” Cas answers truthfully, his lips brushing against Dean’s warm skin as he speaks. “They were there for me when I needed them the most; for us. They’re family and I know they’re scared and sad but also hopeful and if I can do something like this for them then it feels like the least I can do.”

Dean hugs Cas tighter, fit to bursting with how much he loves his resilient mate. “It’s gonna be tough, though. Don’t you think?”

“I think it’s going to be a very special experience. I know we said we don’t want pups and I don’t regret that but I suppose I’ve always wondered how it would feel,” he bends his neck so that their eyes can meet, a smile playing on his pretty lips. “How it would feel to have something growing inside of me,” his eyes darken in a decidedly exciting way. “And how my handsome Alpha would react to seeing me round with pups.”

Oh hell yes. Parental instincts aside, Dean’s down for trying breeding kink play any day of the week.

“You’re going to be so fucking beautiful,” he growl playfully, immediately sensing the change in Cas’ scent. “So fucking perfect for me, helping my family like this, putting me in my place when I’m being a dumbass.”

“Oh you liked that, did you?” Cas murmurs challengingly, an eyebrow raised and Dean feels his inner Alpha purr in satisfaction.

He flips them over, pressing Cas down into the mattress as he kisses him deeply. “You know I like everything about you, little Omega,” he rumbles, cock perking up the more Cas squirms against him.

“Don’t say that,” Cas grins, hands working on removing their sleep pants. “Wait until I am too fat to move and have hemorrhoids so painful I can’t have sex.”

“Keep talking dirty and see where that gets you,” Dean grins and waggles his eyebrows, making Cas laugh out loud. Fuck he loves his mate, always has, and now more so than ever.

*****

Dean is brutally awoken in the middle of the night and at first he doesn’t know where he is or what is happening but as soon as he recognizes the hand that’s clamped over his chest as his mate’s hand he thinks everything’s fine. He’s at home and Cas is clearly alive since he’s grabbing harshly at Dean and moaning.

No wait, that’s not sexy moaning!

Dean immediately flips on the lamp on the nightstand, the yellow light blinding him for a moment but he barely needs to see to know that Cas is in pain; the Omega’s scent tells him all he needs to know.

“Cas?” he whispers, voice hoarse from sleeping. “What’s wrong?”

“The pups,” Cas wheezes, eyes scrunched shut. “Get the bags.”

There is a beat of silence before Dean practically hurtles out of bed, body and senses on high alert as his inner Alpha roars at him. The pups are coming, _the pups are coming_.

For the most part, Cas has had a peaceful pregnancy, barring some morning sickness and a strange craving for pickles he’s basically been okay. Sure, his temper has been swinging erratically and his back has been hurting but every time Dean called to yell at Jess she had told him that that was normal.

To be quite honest — not that Dean plans to be with Cas because Cas has low-key kind of hated being pregnant — Dean has mostly enjoyed this time. Turns out breeding kink is definitely one of Dean’s kinks, who knew?

And better yet, when they went to get an ultrasound to know the number of pups they had been told Cas was carrying two pairs of twins. A fact that definitely explained how big Jess’ boobs were getting since, apparently, the Omega whose _egg_ is fertilized is the one whose body prepares for after the birth. Dean had kind of thought it would be more logical if Cas had been the one to get swollen boobs and starting lactating and he had been properly scolded by his mate for even entertaining the idea. Cas was having enough discomforts as it was, thank you very much _Dean_.

In any case, the sheer number of pups had astounded them but Sam and Jess had been so happy Dean had actually witnessed his little brother crying for the first time in forever. And shit, Dean can’t blame him, _everyone_ in the family are both amazed and happy about this turn of events. For a pair like Sam and Jess, who simply adores pups and the thought of raising a family, this is really the best outcome.

Especially considering the expensive and difficult procedure they had had to go through to even get Cas pregnant. They had had to resign themselves to only doing this once and the time before they confirmed a pregnancy had been nervous as hell. It wasn’t uncommon for a fertile Omega to manage two or more pups in one pregnancy but since Sam and Dean’s mom only had had one at a time and since Jess remained without siblings their chances had been low from the get-go.

Now, though, it seems like they’re finally going to get everything they want and _soon_.

As Dean stumbles through the room, getting his clothes on and getting their pre-packed hospital bags, Cas is having enough problems on his own just getting out of the bed. He snarls at Dean when he tries to help him and Dean quickly backs off, his inner Alpha snarling at him too.

“The car!” he exclaims after he’s been standing there wringing his hands for about point five seconds. “I’ll get the car ready!”

On his way down he takes care to leave every door open to facilitate Cas’ movements, he then rushes back up to get the bags he forgot. He barely manages not to lock himself out of the house and has to go back in for his phone when he remembers that damn, these aren’t their pups and they have people they need to contact.

Cas is still upstairs, groaning but moving steadily and when Dean tries to hover around him he snaps his teeth at the Alpha.

“I can carry you downstairs?”

Oh boy, shouldn’t have suggested that, if looks could kill… Dean hurries outside instead to start the car like he was supposed to do and while doing so he hastily swipes open his phone to call Sam.

His little brother’s voice is croaky and slow with sleep but at the first mention of Cas and hospital he’s wide awake.

“Is something wrong?”

“Everything is peachy,” Dean grins, watching Cas struggling down the stairs. His inner Alpha is pained to be refused to aid his mate but Cas doesn’t want to be touched right now.

“You did not just say _peachy_ ,” Cas growls, brow furrowed in a way that’s always made Dean’s knot take interest. But damn, _really_ not the time for that…

“Cas is in pain,” Dean corrects himself to Sam. “But other than that we are good to go. We’re going now so you call mom and dad, okay? And maybe Gabe?”

“On it,” Sam hastens to say and damn, his voice is just so full of happiness that Dean can’t help but grin like a dork.

“No need to wake him,” Cas grumps as he staggers to a stop at the bottom of the stairs.

“Considering the time zones I think it’s gotta be like eight in the morning for him, he’s probably already up,” Dean grins even wider when he hears Sam telling Jess what’s happening on the other end of the phone line.

Cas’ brother Gabriel had moved to France a few years back to start a pastry shop with his friend Balthazar and though that had been his dream and they were very successful, Gabriel had lamented the fact that he didn’t have time to be here for Cas during his pregnancy. Both of their parents had passed away quite some time ago and Gabriel, being the bigger brother, obviously felt that he wanted to be supportive.

“You call me when the rugrats come,” Gabriel had told Dean sharply. “I know you ain’t keeping them and I know it’ll take me hours to get there and I’ll be too late for the birth but I wanna see them.”

So yeah, Dean is doing that. Gabriel wants to know that his kid brother is safe and Dean gets that, that he leaves the responsibility of notifying the Beta up to his own little brother is another matter. Considering Dean has an agitated and aching Omega to take care of he think he’ll be forgiven.

Jess’ parents live a few states away so Dean suspects they won’t make it in time, although he _has_ heard of labors that go on for days on end, but he doesn’t concern himself very much with them, knowing Jess will probably call them herself. Dean likes the sweet old pair, both Betas and both very grandparently already.

“Dean?” he’s drawn back to the present by Sam’s serious tone. “You better drive careful as fuck.”

Dean snorts. “No Sam, I’m gonna risk both my car and my mate. Sheesh,” he knows he’s immature but he hangs up with that, chuckling to himself. When he looks up he sees Cas waddling deeper into the house instead of out to the car. “Hey, where’re you going?”

“To the toilet,” Cas snaps. “Is that okay with you?”

He gets a door in his face for his impudence and Dean can’t even imagine being annoyed with Cas’ annoyance. His inner Alpha is posturing about Cas’ strength right now and Dean is kinda… turned-on, to be honest. Cas is always so gentle but right now he’s a force to be reckoned with and that’s hot. Plus, and this is something Dean’s been dealing with for a long while, Cas smells fucking amazing. Not just arousing but somehow so much _more_. It’s the pups, Dean knows this. The scent always changes for a pregnant person, not enough to hint at the genders or the number of pups, but just to signify that there is life growing inside. And Dean’s seriously a little drunk on that scent. To him, this is an astonishing thing and that it’s _his_ mate that’s doing it is even better.

That aside, Cas is taking quite some time in the bathroom.

He knocks softly, hoping that the Omega hasn’t fallen asleep on the toilet and this has all been false alarm. “Cas? You okay?”

“Calm down,” Cas barks through the door. “I can barely find my dick, this takes _time_.”

Dean knows when to back off.

Instead he hurries upstairs to grab some more clothes for Cas because he had noticed that the Omega hadn’t changed out of his pajamas, though he had flung on a bathrobe. He feels like he’s wise enough not to suggest Cas changes clothes but he’s not making the mistake of not bringing anything if Cas decides on it later.

When they’re _finally_ in the car it’s almost twenty minutes later and Cas is in _a lot_ of pain. His scent reeks of it but there’s also a sweetness to it that Dean finds confusing but takes as a good sign.

“What are you waiting for?” Cas huffs out between pained breaths, hands on his stomach and sweat beading on his forehead. “We need to get there right now.”

Dean wants to quip that they would have been there already if Cas had gotten in the car right away but _definitely_ knows better than _that_.

“Hang on, I’m just getting directions,” he mumbles, fiddling with his phone and Google Maps. Technically he kinda knows the way but it would be stupid to take a wrong turn just because it’s in the middle of the night and everything looks different, right?

“Oh well, in that case,” Cas mumbles, tone reconciling but in the next moment his hand shoots out to slap Dean’s phone out of his hands, quick like a snake. “Just drive you, oaf!”

“But, what if I don’t know the way?”

Cas reaches over and grabs Dean’s t-shirt, fisting it and pulling Dean down to his face. “You listen here, Alpha,” he snarls, squinting so hard his eyes are like two sharp diamonds. “I’m so ready to birth these pups I feel like I’m about to vomit them out, do you really want that in your _precious_ car?”

Well _damn_ , Dean can practically feel his inner Alpha roll over and present its tummy.

“I’m on it, mate,” he mumbles humbly and Cas growls to quiet him.

The drive is amazingly uneventful, Cas taking his increasing contractions in as much stride as someone about to birth four pups can. Dean can’t help it, he just feels so proud over his mate and judging by Cas’ glances the Omega can sense this on Dean’s scent. At one point Cas’ hand sneaks over to squeeze Dean’s, silently apologizing to the Alpha for snapping at him and Dean squeezes him back, showing how okay he is with that. Because fuck, what Cas is about to do, just in general and for Dean’s little brother, is nothing short of amazing to the Alpha.

When they get to the hospital Dean is a proper douche and parks crookedly just outside of the birthing center. He flounders inside in the hopes of finding a wheelchair while Cas struggles to get out of the car but of course this isn’t like in the movies and he doesn’t find any.

What he does find is Sam and Jess, talking to a nurse who is assuring them that they haven’t admitted a pregnant male Omega in the last hour.

“God, Dean!” Sam exclaims when Dean skids to a halt and fuck, Sam looks anxious but Dean is sure he’s more haggard than his little brother. Well, it _is_ his mate that’s about to do this and fuck people can _die_ during—nope, not going to be morbid and think about that.

“Where have you been?” Jess hurries over to him and Sam turns to the nurse to alert her about what’s coming but by the looks of it the Beta woman is well-accustomed to scenarios like this already.

“Cas needed to pee, it took forever.”

“And where is he now?”

A surge of adrenaline swoops through Dean. “Fuck!”

He bursts through the doors and just outside he’s met by Cas, hobbled by pain and mightily pissed off. He slaps the car keys against Dean’s chest.

“Move the car,” he growls and pushes past Dean to the nurse who’s now waiting with a wheelchair. Where the fuck did she find that?!

He doesn’t stay to question it, though, but instead just sheepishly goes to park his car like a normal person and when he comes back inside it’s a warzone. Cas’ water broke as soon as he sat down in the chair and there’s enough blood that Dean almost faints. He’s jostled around some and in the end Jess takes care of him while Sammy has to repeatedly explain to the nurses that this is a surrogacy case, even though that should already have been documented.

In the end all three of them are let into the triage room where Cas is hooked up to monitors and shit and Dean doesn’t know what to do. They wait, Cas talk to his OB about the pros and cons with epidurals and catheters, and Dean flounders some more while Jess is surprisingly calm and handles mom and dad when they eventually arrive, since the nurses won’t let them into the room.

“It can take hours before you’re ready, sweetie,” the OB says and then not ten minutes later Cas collapses against the bed.

“The button,” he grunts, reaching for the button to call back his OB. Dean feels like crying, so useless in the face of Cas’ obvious pain. It’s Sam who eventually understands but it’s difficult for him too, considering Cas is an Omega in his family and Sam is a good Alpha. Dean think’s it’s probably good dad isn’t in here too but wishes desperately that Jess and mom were.

When Cas is deemed good to go he’s taken to the actual delivery room and Dean’s hair stand on end from listening to his Omega’s pained groaning. They’re all stopped at the door by an impressive Beta woman, who presents herself as Mrs. Moseley, the midwife. Dean’s nose prickles with her no-nonsense scent and he rears back when she pins him down with her sharp eyes.

“Only the mate,” she states. Mom, dad, and Jess relents immediately and goes to the waiting area. Dean feels electric with the need to follow Cas and Sam looks like a stone statue.

“But, _I’m_ the father,” he says, tone desperate. “Surrogacy.”

Mrs. Moseley puts one hand on her hip, holding the other up to stop him. “ _Only_ the _mate_.”

“I got this,” Dean mumbles soothingly, tapping Sam’s chest with his knuckles. “Go to Jess, she needs you.”

Or, more accurately, Sam needs her but whatever, Dean’s words get the other Alpha moving and he lumbers off dejectedly. He stops once, turning and opening his mouth but one look at Mrs. Moseley and he turns back, hanging his head.

Dean, for his part, is fine with this as long as she’ll let him pass but she stops him too. He bares his teeth but snaps his mouth shut quickly enough when she levels him with a highly unimpressed look.

“And you,” she says, handing over a tube of cream. “Put these blockers on, it won’t do you any good smelling your Omega hurting like this and it will do him even less good smelling _you_ like this.”

Dean actually fucking blushes but immediately knows what she’s talking about. He can’t smell it himself but he doesn’t doubt one second that his scent is pretty rank with distress. He’s never been any good at hiding his scent when he worries about his family, much less Cas.

When he’s finally let into the delivery room, Cas is already in hospital gowns on a bed and gritting his teeth against the pain. Dean nearly trips over himself to get to Cas’ side and when his mate turns his head to stick his nose against Dean’s throat he starts regretting the scent blockers. Because damn, even if he smells bad from fear he would still have his own smell. Now there is nothing and Cas makes a confused sound.

“Blockers,” Dean mumbles and Cas squeezes his hand hard.

“Okay,” the doctors says, clearly grinning behind her mouth guard as she rolls up to Cas. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Dean wants to say everything goes smoothly, wants to think the time this takes and the intensity of the pain is normal. But the longer they stand there, the more obvious it gets that the doctor and nurses aren’t satisfied with the process. When Dean is pushed aside because an emergency cesarean is necessary he’s sure he’s actually in a nightmare.

“It’s okay,” Mrs. Moseley tells him as kindly as she can afford while another nurse pulls a curtain around Cas’ bed and everyone around him. “They just call it ‘emergency’ because you hadn’t planned it before coming here. Nothing is wrong, Alpha.”

Dean isn’t so sure about that because he feels as if he’s reliving memories from a few years back when Cas was in that goddamn car accident and lost some of his memories. Dean’s world felt like it fucking ended then and it kind of feels the same now.

He grabs the Beta’s hand, sure his desperation can be sensed even through the blockers. “He _has to_ be okay,” he urges, voice shaky and she pauses, grasping his hands with hers and patting his cheek with the other.

“Nothing will happen to them, not on my watch,” she pulls him over to a chair and presses him down on it. “Stay here until I give you the signal, you don’t want to see what’s on the other side of the curtain until we are done.”

Dean trusts her, at least with that because goddamn, he can only imagine. So he sits there, listening to the people on the other side talking. Cas is awake, though so full of painkillers by now that his speech is slurred. At one point Dean hears his mate ask for him and he’s up out of the chair so fast he almost faceplants. But Mrs. Moseley assures Cas that his Alpha is within reach and Cas seems okay with that so Dean just sits down, feeling sheepish and useless once again.

And then, thank God, there’s the signal. Dean jumps out of the chair, surprised but elated that it didn’t take longer. But the sight that greets him when he whips open the curtain is heart-stopping. It’s horrifying.

It’s death.

Cas lifts his head from the pillow he’s resting on and gives Dean a crooked smile. “Hi mate,” he licks his lips and smiles again. “Everything looking good?”

Cas’ sight is barred by a small curtain over his torso and he’s obviously hopped up on painkillers and numbed enough because otherwise he would know that something is fucking wrong. A deep gash runs across his lower abdomen, just above the public hairline and while Dean had thought something like that would be normal what makes his insides twist is the fact that Cas’ insides are _outside_.

Obviously, _obviously_ , they would have to push things aside to be able to cut open the uterus or whatever, Dean’s isn’t stupid. But Cas’ organs are outside of him and this is it, Dean thinks, his mate is going to die. They killed him.

He grips the curtain so hard it almost tears but he manages a smile anyway. “Beautiful as always,” he trills and stumbles away.

He can’t breathe, can’t see. Hands grip him and he immediately recognizes Mrs. Moseley’s Beta scent.

“It’s okay, Alpha,” she hushes and leads him outside of the room. “We know what we are doing.”

Dean doesn’t doubt _that_ but Cas is… and the pups are… and Cas’ _stomach_ is…

He doesn’t even feel the pain when he faints and smacks his head against the floor.

Dean takes mom and Jess’ heckling in stride, especially when dad and Sam are properly horrified when he tells them about why he fainted. Hell, Sam nearly faints himself, and that’s just from _hearing_ about it.

Cas, ordered bed rest at the hospital for the coming three days, was more sympathetic than the other Omegas and Dean had willing curled up around his mate when Cas had invited him into the bed.

“I thought you were going to die,” Dean had mumbled, nosing animatedly against Cas’ hair and neck.

“I’m not leaving you,” Cas had answered calmly, his scent telling him how much he adored being pampered by his Alpha and damn, Dean is going to pamper the shit out of him.

Because holy fucking hell, Dean had been in love before but now, now that Cas has done this monumental thing for Dean’s little brother… yeah, no way is Dean leaving Cas’ side now. He wishes he could pluck the moon out of the sky for his Omega, or hang it, or however the fuck the saying goes.

Standing in the nursery, looking at the pups through a window together with Sam and dad, Dean’s chest feels so full of love that he feels like he’s about to burst. And they’re not even his pups. He thinks maybe he can give Sammy a pass for crying right now.

“Still can’t really believe they missed one pup in the ultrasound,” dad mutters after a while and Dean chuckles.

“I guess there were too many, right? Tumbling around in there.”

Because instead of two pairs of twins, there had actually been one set of triplets and one pair of twins. Sam was now looking at a household of three identical girls and an extra girl with a non-identical boy to boot.

“Have you thought about names yet?” dad asks after a quiet moment. The pups are sleeping soundly in the cribs on the other side of the window and damn, they’re so fucking adorable that even dad’s voice is gruff with emotion. Dean is both astonished in general because pups are fucking adorable and because holy fucking hell, Cas had all of this _inside_ him.

“We, um,” Sam clears his throat and smiles proudly. “We’re taking yours and mom’s name for the girl and boy. And then, I dunno, Jess has always liked Samantha and we were thinking of maybe Cassandra to honor Cas, you know?”

Okay, Dean is not fucking tearing up, shut up.

“And the runt?” dad points to the extra girl, the one who had eluded the ultrasound.

Sam chuckles, nudging Dean’s arm. “Maybe Deanna after her incredibly brave uncle?”

“Don’t you dare,” Dean exclaims, his voice wobbly as hell. “That’s a horrible name.”

Definitely _not_ crying while smiling like a fucking moron, nope.

**Author's Note:**

> Hoped you liked it! Thank you, ZarauthForsaken for prompting me and also for supplying the pup names, I suck at baby names lmao
> 
> Now, a gentle reminder that even though this was the last prompt in my queue (I seriously think this was given to me a _year_ ago…), I still don’t take new prompts, sorry! <333 
> 
> Instead, starting next week I’ll be writing some of my own ideas again :D I also have a collaboration with my beta BeeCas coming up that I’m (we’re) very excited for! So I hope to see y’all join me on the continued explorations of Destiel! <333


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